TEHRAN, Feb. 7 (UPI) — Iranian officials say they deciphered video from a U.S. drone it downed more than a year ago and posted the footage on YouTube.
The footage Iran claims was from a RQ-170 spy plane was broadcast by Iranian news agencies before it was posted to YouTube, CNN reported Thursday.
The footage is narrated by a man identified as Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
“This aircraft has carried out many operations in the countries around Iran,” the voiceover said, explaining that some of the footage shows the drone near Kandahar Airfield in southern Afghanistan.
CNN said it could not authenticate the video independently. It said it could not immediately contact the Pentagon for comment.
Iran said it downed the drone Dec. 4, 2011, near Kashmar, about 140 miles from the country’s border with Afghanistan. At the time, U.S. officials said the drone was missing and President Obama asked Iran to return it.
Iran’s claim comes as the U.S. drone program is being debated in Washington. John Brennan, Obama’s nominee to lead the CIA, was an architect of drone operations against al-Qaida and its allies during the last four years.
Copyright 2013 United Press International, Inc. (UPI).
